After a disappointing, yet fair 1-1 draw with Florida rivals Inter Miami, Orlando City SC now fly north to face FC Cincinnati in our first ever visit to TQL Stadium.
Opened in May, the Lions will hope for a successful trip ahead of next week’s break from MLS play, and appearance in the 2021 Leagues Cup quarter-finals.
In truth, Orlando City SC‘s Wednesday outing against Inter Miami was a lacklustre affair.
Despite outshooting Phil Neville’s lowly side 14 to 4, Oscar Pareja‘s side didn’t look mighty convincing all evening.
To be fair, Orlando City SC have just contested five quick-fire MLS fixtures in only 19 days.
Fatigue definitely looked an issue, especially considering all we put into that 3-2 comeback victory over Atlanta United.
While it’s never nice surrendering points to rivals, there’s absolutely no reason to panic.
After all, City remain second in the Eastern Conference (17 games played, 29 points).
However, the only regret was that leaders New England Revolution dropped points to Nashville SC (0-0) the same night.
With Orlando City SC missing the opportunity to close the gap to just six points, we currently trail the Foxborough side by eight points with a game in hand.
Looking forward to this road trip, hosts FC Cincinnati earned a hard-fought 0-0 draw at New York Red Bulls on Wednesday.
Their fifth draw in their last seven MLS fixtures, Jaap Stam’s side aren’t winning too many games but they’re remaining competitive.
With FC Cincinnati still awaiting their first MLS victory over the Lions, Oscar Pareja‘s side will hope to stretch their unbeaten series streak to four games.
FC Cincinnati vs Orlando City SC – 2019/21 head-to-head stats
The last time Orlando City SC faced FC Cincinnati, they achieved what is currently their second most emphatic victory of the season (3-0).
Only second to our 5-0 home drubbing of San Jose Earthquakes, Tesho Akindele scored in just 33 seconds to make it 1-0.
This remains Orlando City SC‘s fastest ever MLS goal with Akindele also scoring City’s second fastest goal – in 50 seconds against Toronto FC in June (2-3).
After Tesho Akindele gave Oscar Pareja‘s side a fast start, Nani (19 minutes) and Júnior Urso (80 minutes) goals further capped a dominating one-sided affair.
Orlando City SC 3 FC Cincinnati 0 – Highlights – May 1, 2021 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Still a young Eastern Conference game series, Orlando City SC remain unbeaten against FC Cincinnati in THREE MLS head-to-heads.
Holding TWO victories and ONE draw so far, both victories came at Exploria Stadium by handsome margins (5-1, 3-0).
As for the September 2020 meeting at Nippert Stadium (1-1), this was a sorry affair.
After all, both sides had already failed to reach the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs.
After Allan Cruz made it 1-0 in the 40th minute, City were only seconds away from losing the game.
Fortunately, Benji Michel scored a 91st minute equaliser in stoppage time to spare Orlando City SC total embarrassment against the Eastern Conference basement boys.
In conceding this goal, FC Cincinnati set the unwanted record for most goals conceded in a single MLS campaign (75).
Whipping boys for much of their early MLS existence, FC Cincinnati trail Orlando City SC 9-2 on aggregate after three meetings.
Of our nine goals scored against the Orange and Blue, Tesho Akindele and Nani have scored 66% of them.
Each scoring THREE times against the Ohio side, Tesho Akindele and Nani will be relishing this next MLS head-to-head.
Orlando City SC 5 FC Cincinnati 1 – Highlights – May 19, 2019 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
FC Cincinnati form
At the outset, we mentioned that FC Cincinnati have been struggling to regularly turn one point into three.
Winless in their last SEVEN Major League Soccer fixtures, the Orange and Blue have drawn their last THREE home games at TQL Stadium.
Surrendering leads against rivals Columbus Crew (2-2) and Atlanta United (1-1), their most recent home draw was against D.C. United (0-0) on July 31.
FC Cincinnati 0 D.C. United 0 – Highlights – July 31, 2021 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Orlando City SC form
In April and May, Orlando City SC‘s MLS fixtures were generally low scoring affairs.
It’s been all change since June however.
Indeed, there have been OVER 2.5 GOALS SCORED in NINE of the Lions’ last ELEVEN MLS fixtures.
City games have provided neutrals plenty of entertainment but have simultaneously put City supporters’ heart rates to the test!
In truth, this trend was snapped on Wednesday after the 1-1 draw with Inter Miami at Exploria Stadium.
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Don’t forget, FC Cincinnati vs Orlando City SC will be shown LIVE on FreeSports in the early hours of Sunday morning at 00:35 (GMT).
You can view our TV Fixture Tracker by clicking here.
GOOD NEWS 🚨 | @fccincinnati 🆚 @OrlandoCitySC is LIVE on @FreeSports_TV in the early hours of Sunday morning. 😁👏🏽🦁
VIEW TV TRACKER 📺: https://t.co/KV9JvpAA0o#CINvORL #FCCincy #OrlandoCity #VamosOrlando #MLSUK pic.twitter.com/7cNoWUcjpC
— Orlando City UK (@Orlando_CityUK) August 5, 2021